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OCYDROME

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 995 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OCYDROME , a word formed from Ocydromus, meaning " See also:

swift-runner," and suggested by J. Wagler in 183o as a generic See also:term for the New See also:Zealand See also:bird called in the then unpublished See also:manuscripts of J. R. See also:Forster Rallus See also:troglodytes, and so designated in 1788 by S. G. See also:Gmelin, who knew of it through J. Latham's See also:English description. Wagler's See also:suggestion has since been generally adopted, and the genus Ocydromus is accepted by most ornithologists as a valid See also:group of Rallidae; but the number of See also:species it contains is admittedly doubtful, owing to the variability in See also:size and plumage which they exhibit, and their correct nomenclature must for the See also:present be considered uncertain. See also:Sir W. See also:Buller in his Birds of New Zealand identifies the " See also:Wood-See also:hen," observed in See also:great abundance on the shores of Dusky See also:Bay in 1773 by See also:Cook and his companions on his second voyage, with the Gallirallus fuscus described and figured by Du Bus in 1847, and accordingly calls it O. fuscus; but it cannot be questioned that the species from this locality—which appears to have a somewhat limited range in the See also:Middle See also:Island,' and never to be met with far from the See also:sea-See also:coast, where it lives wholly on crustaceans and other marine animals—is identical with that of the older authors just mentioned. In 1786 Sparrman, who had also been of Cook's See also:company, figured and described as Rallus australis a bird which, though said by him to be that of the See also:southern coast of New Zealand, differs so much from the R. troglodytes as to compel a belief in its specific distinctness; and indeed his species has generally been identified with the See also:common Weka " of the Maories of the Middle Island, which can scarcely be the See also:case if his statement is absolutely true, since the latter does not appear to reach so far to the southward, or to affect the seashore. It may therefore be fairly inferred that his subject was obtained from some other locality.

The See also:

North Island of New Zealand has what is allowed to be a third species, to which the name of Ocydromus earli is attached, and this was formerly very plentiful; but its See also:numbers have rapidly decreased, and there is every See also:chance of its soon being as See also:extinct as is the species which tenanted See also:Norfolk Island on its See also:discovery by Cook in 1774, ' It also occurs in See also:Stewart Island, and singularly enough on the more distant group known as the Snares. The Gallirallus brachypterus of Lafresnaye, of which the typical (and unique?) specimen from an unknown locality is in the See also:Caen Museum, has also been referred to this species, but the propriety of the See also:act may be doubted. and which was doubtless distinct from all the See also:rest, though no specimen of it is known to exist in any museum.) Another species, O. sylvestris, smaller and lighter in See also:colour than any of the rest, was found in 1869 to linger yet in See also:Lord See also:Howe's Island (Prot. Zool. Society, 1869, p. 473, p1. See also:xxxv.). Somewhat differing from Ocydromus, but apparently very nearly allied to it, is a little bird See also:peculiar, it is believed, to the See also:Chatham Islands (See also:Ibis, 1872, p. 247), and regarded by See also:Captain See also:Hutton as the type of a genus Cabalus under the name of C. modestus, while other naturalists consider it to be the See also:young of the rare Rallus dieffenbachi. So far the See also:distribution of the Ocydromine See also:form is wholly in accordance with that of most others characteristic of the New Zealand sub-region; but a curious exception is asserted to have been found in the Gallirallus lafresnayanus of New See also:Caledonia, which, though presenting some structural See also:differences, has been referred to the genus Ocydromus. The See also:chief See also:interest attaching to the Ocydromes is their inability to use in See also:flight the wings with which they are furnished, and hence an extreme See also:probability of the form becoming wholly extinct in a See also:short See also:time. Of this inability there are other instances among the Rallidae (see See also:MOOR-HEN); but here we have coupled with it the curious fact that in the See also:skeleton the See also:angle which the scapula makes with the coracoid is greater than a right angle, a peculiarity shared only, so far as is known, among the Carinatae by the See also:dodo. The Ocydromes are birds of dull plumage, and mostly of retiring habits, though the common species is said to show great boldness towards See also:man, and, from the accounts of Cook and the younger Forster, the birds seen by them displayed little fear.

They are extremely destructive to eggs and to any other birds they can See also:

master. (A.

End of Article: OCYDROME

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